Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 2

SUBJECT:  LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH               

CLASS:  SS2

DATE:

TERM: 2nd Term

REFERENCE

1. Exam Reflection Literature- in-English by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.
2. Exam Reflection Literature-in-English (Prose and Drama) by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.  
3. Native Son by Richard Wright.

WEEK EIGHT

TOPIC: READING AND CONTENT ANALYSIS OF AFRICAN POETRY- “The Dining Table” by Elvan GbanabonHallowel.

CONTENT

Content Analysis

The poet persona in the poem, “The Dining Table,” x-rays the gory experiences of the Sierra Leoneans during a decade long civil war of 1991 to 2002. For a country as Sierra Leone, the effects of the fallout which grew in a war are unimaginable as manslaughter became a part of their society. The failure on the part of Joseph Momoh led administration transforms the country into a spate of degeneration and collapse in governance. At a period when the people expect to enjoy the dividend of independence, the shocker came. In his words, “Dinner tonight comes with/gun wounds.” The parallel lines between dinner and gun wounds project the shocker. At this moment, war has broken out and the poet speaker hears sounds of gunshots. Immediately, a sensation of fear is sent round everyone in the room as “Our desert/tongues lick the vegetable/blood – the pepper”. No one in the room is able to continue with the meal as their tongues go dry right in the face of war. The abrupt nature the war started terrifies the poet and his inmates at the dining table that they considers it best not to continue with the food as it can “…push scorpions/up our heads” by “the pepper/strong enough….” The fear caused by this war makes “Guests/look into the oceans of bowls/ as vegetables die on their tongues.”

In a tensed moment, he tries to describe what his physical environment has turned into “The table/that gathers us is an island where guerrillas/walk the land while crocodiles/surf.” At the outbreak of war, the poet persona signals that they were surrounded by group of newly recruited armed boys as ‘guerrillas’ while behind them were ‘crocodiles’ which surf in the river behind. This is the atmosphere of fear that accompanies war and they are all in a fix. To the poet’s amazement, the core of the guerrilla group comprises “Children from Alphabeta with empty palms dine/with us; switchblades in their eyes,” and their school ground has been completely deserted. He says “… the playground/is emptied of children’s toys”. As an effect of war, the poet speaker identifies that there is a breakdown in government and movement of people as roadblocks which were unnecessary are mounted. No wonder he asks, ‘who needs roadblocks?’ Besides the hunger and starvation that threatens the people, the poet persona realises that “When the hour/to drink from the cup of life ticks/cholera breaks its spell on cracked lips”. He sees war bringing the disease called cholera on the people of the land of Sierra Leone. All these are born out of the insensitivity of the government of Joseph Momoh which refuse to attend to the plight of the masses until it degenerated into a war.

In the last stanza of the poem, we see the poet speaker driven by emotion promising to ensure that an end is brought to the crisis in the land. But on a second note, we deduce that his attempt had rather come too late to have an impact. He recounts “Under the spilt/milk of the moon, I promise/to be a revolutionary,” but at contact with realities of war, he understands our unfit he is in “but my Nile, even/without tributaries comes lazy/upon its own Nile.” He observes that without the support of others, he can do little or nothing to salvage to situation the country is brought into. The bewilderment that surrounds the poet and his guest is wrong timing or sudden outbreak of the war. He says, “On this/night reserved for lovers of fire, I’m/full with the catch of gun wounds, and my boots/have suddenly become too reluctant to walk me.” When the poet intends to enjoy with his loved ones, he is distracted by sounds of gunshots and he sees how helpless he is to do something.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

1. How does the poem, “The Dining Table”, x-ray the issue of war in Sierra Leone.
2. Give a detailed content analysis of the poem, “The Dining Table”.

GENERAL EVALUATIONS/REVISION QUESTIONS 

1. What is the poem all about?
2. What are the dominant ideas in the poem?

READING ASSIGNMENT

Read the content analysis of the poem in Exam Focusand summarize.  

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. A speech in a play in which a character speaks his or her thought alone is A. a monologue. B. an aside. C. a soliloquy. D. an epilogue.
2. In Literature, repetition is used essentially for A. rhyme. B. suspense. C. allusion. D. emphasis.
3. The pattern of a poem without reference to its content is referred to as the A. limerick. B. metre. C. free verse. D. form
4. The performers in a play constitute the A. chorus. B. character. C. audience. D. cast.
5. A metrical foot in which a stressed syllable is following by an unstressed syllable is A. iambic. B. spondaic. C. trochaic D. dactylic.

THEORY

Read Exam Focus and summarize the content of the poem.